Gable runner



1957 J. A. SNYDER 2,811,778

GABLE RUNNER Filed April 12, 1954 away/' 5/0 1251? ATTORNEY United States Patent GABLE RUNNER Joseph A. Snyder, North Canton, Ohio Application April 12, 1954, Serial No. 422,558 4 Claims. (Cl. 3385) The present invention relates to bricklayers tools and specifically to a device for holding a masons line at a desired level while a bricked-in gable is being constructed.

Many devices have been manufactured for the holding of level lines or indicators from the end of one course of brick to the other end, and some of the devices are complicated and require much skill in adjusting them for each course. The present device is intended primarily to be used in the construction of brick veneer gables, where it has been found to be most difficult to lay the brick courses evenly and with a final perfect appearance, with no uneven widths of the mortar and without wavy horizontal lines that are bound to occur when other means of holding a masons line are employed or resorted to.

Simply described, the device of the present invention is a channel shaped slide to be tacked or screwed on the face of the gable board and in which is adjustably positioned a line holder. The shape of the holder is such that the line is held taut and true at the edge of the brick course, and the gable can then be bricked up one course at a time without the customary and time-wasting procedure of laying one brick at each end and then fastening a line over the end bricks and by cutting and filling lay the intervening bricks in the course. Such procedure gives rise to many errors, which are costly to correct or change, many of them not appearing directly but later, after the mortar has undergone an initial set. Cleaning and relaying the bricks takes up a masons time and requires more material than is necessary.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a device which is inexpensive and easy to operate to hold a line level at the desired position on a corner of the course of brick to be laid.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device which is of small dimensions and one that is easily handled, yet requires only the minimum of attention and moving from one range of work to another.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a device which will require only a moments work to adjust to a new level, at each end, and one which will automatically adjust itself in tension.

These objects and advantages will be more thanreadily apparent upon consideration of the following description when taken in connection with the appended drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view in elevation showing the device as used on the gable end of a building;

Fig. 2 is a detailed view of the device shown in broken portions as applied in the view shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top view of the present invention showing the overhang of the line, as taken on line 33 of Fig. 2; F Fig. 4 is an end view in section taken on line 44 of Fig. 5 is a side view in detail of the line holder, and Fig. 6 is an isometric view of the line holder. Referring in more particular to the drawing, in which like numerals indicate like parts throughout the several ice . views, in Fig. 1 a gable end of a building is indicated at 10, showing the gable face board 11 and roofing. A brick wall, veneer in this type of construction, has already been laid up as indicated at 13.

The. problem is now to lay the increasingly shorter.

courses of brick in level rows to have a fine finished appearance and without the cutting and filling formerly necessary to accommodate the gable cut or angle. It formerly was expedient to'lay one cut brick, called a lead, at each end of the course and to stretch a masons line over the two bricks in such away as to indicate the desired. level and corner position of the course. It was al ways a fault of the workman to be prone to set these leads in such a manner that the brick course would accumulate a fraction of an inch overhang with each course, making the final appearance rough and the texture unsightly. The only purpose of the leads he has cut is to hold the line and allow the mason to fill in between them, and he is required to cut new leads for each course of brick.

As seen in Fig. 1, temporarily secured to the gable face board is a pair of elongated channel members 14, which are substantially oval in shape with flattened ends 15 on one side and having a hole 16 at each end to receive a nail or screw 17. Preferably, each of the pair of channel members 14 is about 4 feet in length, which makes it a convenient size to handle and will not need moving on the gable face board oftener than several courses of brick. The channel member 14 has a slot 18 along its front side and adjustably positioned in this slot 18 is the sliding member 19 which is shown in Fig. 6, and is seen to have an oval shaped body 21 and a curved arm 22 terminating in the eyelet portion 20 having an aperture 23. A thumb screw 24 is threaded through the body 21 to bear upon the bottom or back 25 of the channel to press the body outwardly into a vice fit in the channel member 14. A second thumb screw 26 is arranged to cross the aperture 23 for securing in it the rod 30 which has an eyelet 31 at each end with the masons line 27 threaded through it. One end of the line is secured to a weight 28 here illustrated as a brick, but almost any heavy object will do instead. The rod 30 with its eyelets 31, at each end of the line 27 permits the mason to secure the channel members on the face board without close attention to where the masons line will be placed, then by adjusting the rod 30 in the aperture 23, he can make the close adjustment of his line to the brick work.

As is readily understood from the drawing, the rod 30 is of such length that it will hold the line 27 at the exact point where it will indicate the outer and upper edge of the bricks in their course. This will lead to the proper placement of each successive brick, the mason moves each sliding member 19 upwardly in the channel member 14 on each side a suflicient distance to indicate the next course. The length of the channel member 14 may be varied as desired, but as here illustrated is about sufficient length for a masons tool kit.

While a single embodiment has been here shown and described, other embodiments of the invention are contemplated and many changes and modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention what is claimed is:

1. A masons line holder for holding a line between the two spaced support structures of a gable extending at a converging angle to each other comprising a pair of elongated channel members adapted and arranged to be removably supported one each to said angularly extending support structures, each of said channel members having a slot longitudinally on one face and having flattened ends coplanar with its other face, a sliding member in each channel member comprising a body having an arm extending outwardly through said slot, said arm terminating in a portion having an aperture, a rod slidable in said aperture and having its ends formed into line-receiving eyelets, and means on each of said aperture portions for adjustably positioning said rod in said aperture.

2. The device as set forth in'claim 1 together with a thumbscrew locking-means'foradjustably positioning said body in its associated channel member.

3. A device for adjustably securing one end of a line to a support comprising a channel member having each of its ends flattened and provided with apertures to receive an attaching screw, said channel member being substantially oval in cross section and having a longitudinal slot midway one side thereof between said flattened ends, a sliding member in said channel member, said sliding member being similarly oval in cross section and having an arm extending through said slot, said arm terminating 4 at its end remote from said sliding member in a portion having an aperture, a rod slidable in said aperture transversely to said slot, said rod having its ends formed into line-receiving eyelets adapted and arranged to slidably sup port a line therein.

4. The device as set forth in claim 3 together with locking means on the portion of the arm having the aperture for releasably securing said rod relative to said arm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 290,735 Broome Dec. 25, 1883 950,859 Michaud Mar. 1, 1910 1,872,860 Winter Aug. 23, 1932 2,076,534 Galbraith Apr. 13, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 265,234 Switzerland Feb. 16, 1950 

